GRAB circular bike path around Rome

GRAB which stands for “Big Ring for Bikes” is a circular bike path around Rome, it is the longest bicyclepath in Rome, with its 44 km should be the longest urban path in the world, for sure, it is an exciting historical tour, starting from a road built 2300 years ago – Appia Antica – and reaching the contemporary architecture of Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI and street art now invading Quadraro and Torpignattara.

Linking together Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Caracalla, St. Peter’s and the Vatican, Gnam, parks and unexpected landscapes (Caffarella and Aqueducts), historical villas (Villa Ada, Villa
Borghese, Villa Gordiani), Tiber and Aniene rivers routes, the GRAB is the connection of already existing bike and pedestrian roads within villas and parks which ends up to creating a network of 200 km cycling routes with no interruptions.

GRAB was born from the G.S.A. (Grande Sentiero Anulare) theorized, cycled and shared by Marco Pierfranceschi, here’s his blog (Italian only).

Grab will be ready in the coming years but, as it is based on pre existing bike paths, it is already possible to ride it.

We have cycled the whole ring starting and finishing at Martini Bed, which is a bike friendly guesthouse in Quadraro Area, along the GRAB.

GRAB can be cycled in both senses, clockwise and anticlockwise, look the official page of GRAB or download the .gpx files of the bike path, Grab_Classic.gpx for clockwise sense – Grab_Reverse.gpx for anticlockwise sense.

We strongly recommend to have a smartphone with a GPX viewer during your “bike adventure in Rome” as there are no signs to follow on the itinerary.

Most of the time we did GRAB in anticlockwise sense, from Martini Bed the G.R.A.B. is the only safe bike path to reach the city centre and meet other important bike paths such as the Old Appian way which allows you to reach Albano Lake or the Tiber.

To reach the city centre by bike through GRAB is pretty easy and fast, the Coliseum is only 10 km away!

From Martini Bed to Coliseum you will pass through: Tor Fiscale park with its magic Roman Aqueducts, the Caffarella Valley, the Old Appian Way and the Caracalla Thermal Bath; simply amazing!

If made in clockwise sense GRAB allows you to reach Pigneto or Centocelle area which are the best area of Southern Rome for “movida”.

We recommend a mountain bike or a strong city bike, as the itinerary is pretty unconnected and it also passes through parks.

We also recommend lights, helmet and a strong lock to ensure your bike itinerary in Rome.